Sawad dee kha :-)

It's the day...finally. We were kind of overly excited for few days already...busying ourselves with packing and unpacking...rescheduling all the girls' private classes...and of course shopping for our holiday need. Not that the items couldn't be found there but especially for clothes...I need to wash it first prior using it (definitely not my hubby kind which can wear newly bought clothes...my high maintenance skin - read: sensitive - is troublesome). So here we are...on our way to Bangkok on 9k feet or is it 19k...90k? Well, when you read this post (wondering whether i could post it with my mobile blogger version), I will probably at Phuket already. We chose early morning flight so as not to waste more time there...the flight was on time...smooth took off plus perfect weather. Couldn't ask for more :-)

So, while I was wondering what should I do to kill this 3hour flight...my hubby is sleeping peacefully right on my left (geez....I envy him sometimes...especially now. He can practically doze off anytime anywhere, even after a cup of expresso). I looked at my girls on the right who are playing tab in turn (they sure feel like at home). While I am busying myself, wrestling my neck to find some comfort (a drawback for being a petite size huh), I decided to write something on my mobile (no worry...aeroplane mode is on) So, we are back to Thailand to celebrate me-n-my-hubby 10th anniversary. We had our honeymoon at Thai and now, with the girls tagging along...we decided to retrace our previous trip. However, this time we will visit Bangkok and Phuket only, excluding Samui. I still recalled my experience flying to Samui using small earoplane with full capacity of 20 passangers only...ringing machine sound along the way, complete with turbulance and any kind of vibration (felt like bajaj-after-effect LOL). It was such a long 30mins...unforgetable memory wkwkwk. Geez...how time is flying. Half way there already and with Beyonce's Love on Top is playing thru my earphone, I started to enjoy my flight. This trip is gonna FUN! I have a habit of predicting how enjoyable the trip based on how I enjoy the ride *silly but yeah I am quite superstitious. Beside, we have packed our itinerary with lots of interesting places (yes...u guessed it right)...places that fun according to my girls. That means forget historical places, stroked out museum and heritage places. Well, at least we will visit the Grand Palace (it was easy to persuade the girls...just telling them that we are going to a princess's palace)

Anyway, lots of my friend asked me...isn't it troublesome going for trip especially overseas with kids? Well, I have been taking my girls for overseas trip since they were 2yo. I didn't say that it was easy...we did have some problems like when the girls were sick and we had to choose between spending our holiday in the hotel or piggyback them while we sightseeing. But so far, we are always waiting eagerly for this kind of trip. I don't have any magic formula up to my sleeves but I guess I can share tids and bits bout bringing your kids holiday.

1. First and the foremost is maintaining the health...yours the most and of course the kids. I often double their vitamin intake a week before until the last day of the trip. Vitamin and common used medicine are the must items in my things-to-bring. Medicines for fever, motion sickness, headache, stomache, bug bites, allergy, teardrop...even the famous Tolak Angin are in my bag.

2. Next is the itinerary. Browse...ask around...google...or copy the tour-travel's ones. Some tourism website offer feee-of-charge consultation, make use of that. Put on your itinerary: the point of interest, how to get there, operational hour and day, and fee required (transport fee, ticket, etc). If English isn't commonly used, print out the address of your hotel and places that you wanna go in the country's mother tongue.

3. Once the itinerary is done, start calculating the budget. I know it is tough to stick on the budget but this will help you in figuring out how much cash that you need to bring...how much that you need to converse...etc. You dont want to be flat broke after holiday,dont you? If possible, online purchase any ticket that you need, so you don't need to bring too much cash on hand.

4. List out your to-do-list and things-to-bring. This way, you could avoid bringing unneccessary stuff and forgetting important item. Make this list at least 2days prior your departure so you have enough time to revise it.

5. The last but the most important is feeling good. Don't freak out or worse, feeling pessimistic. Just enjoy and have a great holiday. So what if my girls are picky-eater...we can collect goodies from those fastfood chain (the only time my girls can enjoy junkfood to their heart desire). So what if they are throwing tantrum and kick a fit...it's holiday and perfect time to pamper them once in a while. Again, enjoy it!

Happy holiday everyone :-) *cheers from somewhere with lots of squishy cloud and light blue sky

Epic - animation movie

Last week went slowly, most of the time spent driving to and fro for my girl's chiropractic therapy. It wasn't something big, just a bit posture correction due to her flat-feet. But my girls still enjoyed the week due to their latest addition toward their Lalaloopsy's collection. As promised, I bought them the Tree House as reward for their achievement in school. My girls got into the big ten уααу!└(^o^)┘ \^o^/ └(^o^)┘уααу! Believe me...it was a better result compared to last semester or last year.

Image taken from www.imdb.com

Though my hubby was a bit disappointed this week since we still haven't catch the lastest Star Trek movie (well - mainly his fault since he was deep in neck with work) but we watched Epic, one of my must-see-movie ↖(^ω^)↗...уιρρєу!...ㄟ(￣▽￣ㄟ). This time, we chose the 3D version and thru 100mins, the back of my ears itched and were hurt (well, using 2glasses at the same time was too much a burden for my delicate ears).

My girls' award

Anyway, despite the discomfort, I enjoyed the movie a lot. It was totally epic (๑'⌣'๑)づ . It is about a girl called MK who lived with her mother but due to the mother's recent death, she was about to live with her father. Prof Bomba is an eccentric guy who has been spending almost his entire life in his study about tiny people who lives in the forest near his house. MK totally thought his father was a freak (can't blame her though...her father seemed pay more attention toward his study anyway) and decided to leave the house. However, accidentally MK had to chase Ozzie (their three-legs-dog) into the forest.

On the other part of the forest, at the same time, Tara (the forest guardian or queen) was chosing her heir when Boggans (basically the bad guy - it was pretty difficult to explain what Boggans were - I didn't get a close look neither unless that they were bad and smelly and definitely not good looking) attacked them. Ronin (the head of leafmen - leafmen were the soldier who protect the forest) run into her rescue by riding a colibri (or hummingbird - well, it looked like it anyway). And apparently colibri was the trending vehicle especially for soldier since it was small enough yet fast. However, one of Boggans' arrow hit Tara and she fell.

Fate arranged their meeting. Tara fell onto MK and on her last breath, Tara handing the lotus bud/pod (the chosen heir) to MK and asked MK to bring the pod to Nim Glu. Unexpectedly, the magic of Tara shrunk MK into their size. Together with Ronin, Nom (the resigned leafmen but handy rider), and the hillarious slimey duo of Grub the wanted-to-be-leafmen-snail and Mud the big proud slug, MK began her journey to Nim Glu. Nim Glu was a place where the wise caterpilar lived with its scrolls of knowledge (yes...the wise animal was the silly caterpilar...not the serious looking owl as I have thought). Nim, the caterpillar explained that for the new queen to be born, the pod should bloom under the moonlight at that specific night. Too bad, Mandrake (the leader of Boggans) attacked Nim Glu and stole the pod.

Terrible thing would happen to the forest if the pod was blooming in the darkness of the Boggans. Therefore, MK, Nom and Ronin disquised themselves into Boggans and retrieved back the pod. Trouble didn't stop there. Boggans re-attacked and destroyed the forest right before the pod was blooming. Leafmen were desperately fighting back until MK realized that the only person who could help them was his father. Upon Prof Bomba's help, the pod was successfully bloomed under the moonlight and new queen was finally chosen. MK was back to her-own-self but at the end, both worlds keep their friendship intact.

This movie was actually so cliche just like any other children animation movie, where the good guy versus bad guy, and upon critical time, good guy managed to win. Anyway I like several things on it like the amazing sound and image effect. I like the leaves boat with Lotus pod as the core, and being pulled by the dragonflies. I like how the forest assented their queen, curling and uncurling of fern leaves or how the lotus leaves joined together so that Tara could walk on the pond gracefully. Everything about the forest was breath-takingly beautiful. I also like the moral stories of this movie. First, it was about leafmen principal of 'many leaves one tree' which means we are actually connected to the other, never alone. Therefore, in time of need, it is ok to ask for help of other and vice versa. Second, it tought us to keep trying...to keep fighting and never give up. Just like Nom and the leafmen, realized that they were outnumbered and have lots of handicaps, however they kept attacking the Boggans...trully EPIC!

Jungle Land - Adventure Theme Park @Sentul Nirwana

The owl building on the left side

The egg shape building on the right

Ticketing booth - yeah...i was too shocked to complain :-D

How to get there map - taken from www.jungleland.co.id

Final exam was done...no more school уααу!└(^o^)┘ \^o^/ └(^o^)┘уααу! My girls (as well as me) are having our hightime. Holiday is stretching for another 7weeks to come and to give a good start for this holiday and to celebrate the effort spent by my girls during the exam (and me of course), we had a trip ↖(^ω^)↗...уιρρєу!...ㄟ(￣▽￣ㄟ) We went to Jungle Land @Sentul City, the newest amusement park establishment there. Btw we went there with several friends of the girls at school...sounded FUN, wasn't it?

Get your J initial upon entrance

Some dino rides in progress

Posed before entering

How to get there?
It is simple. Just take the highway road to Sentul City (highway exit: Sentul Selatan) then turn left. Follow the road (roughly 5km or about 15mins of average driving speed) until you pass Taman Budaya (on your right), keep going for a minute then turn left. You will see the entrance to Sentul Nirwana, one of housing cluster where Jungle Land is located. Follow the main road and turn to left again (there is a signage on the left side pedestrian). Keep going until you see the main gate (unfinished at the moment) of Jungle Land. For now on, a visitor needs to pay IDR 10k for car parking (pay in advance during entering) and keep the ticket since they will check it upon exiting the premises. From this very first sight of the place, they sure allocate enormous space for parking. Another minutes of drive toward the lobby showed construction is still going on the main lobby. 2 egg-shape-building are sitting nicely on the right and the left, with few totems towering in front of it. Some bam-bam sounds and dust from the construction site travels to where we parked our car. I was a bit dejected...I knew the construction is still going on but seeing what was in front of me...made me realized that they are nowhere near finishing stage. However, since I had spent an hour driving up here...and since my girls were so excited...so we went on with our plan.

Roarrrr....apparently the kids were afraid to pose near the dino robot

The inside of Robot Zoo

The chameleon robot

The entrance ticket during the promo period is IDR 75k per pax (only until end of May 2013 and then it will be IDR 175k for weekend or IDR 125k for weekday). Children above 80cm needs a ticket. Bring lots of cash since neither they have EDC machine nor any available ATM nearby. You aren't allowed to bring branded/packed food or beverage, however food/beverage placed in container/water bottle (that you can buy on shelves) are allowed. Don't forget your sunblock/aftersun lotion/cap or hat/umbrella and raincoat since the sun was quite scorching and shower can suddenly pour. The park is open from 10am until 10pm.

Science corner

Demo by Mr Pinter

Tribe dance performance

We were welcomed into the Robot Zoo, the only indoor facilities here (too bad, the lighting was so poor). With various kinds of dino on the entrance, this building is displaying animal robots which can move (only head/body/tail though). This international exhibition offers various science experiments and mindflex - how to move things with mind (though we didn't see this mindflex anywhere). Robot zoo is also housing the science center, claimed to be the biggest (on their website) but it was just a corner of it with some exhibitions (some weren't working at that time). They also present live science demo lead by Mr Pinter (Mr Smart if translated into English) but again, the item shown were pretty basic stuff, which most of science-freak-primary-student has acquired.

Snack & beverage corner

The uncompleted area of Carnival

The main gate of Downtown area

From Robot Zoo, we stepped into the outdoor area of Carnival (the most ready section in the park). Beside Carnival, according to the park map, there will be (not ready at the time the post is published) Downtown, Explora, Tropicalia, and Mysteria sections, each with its distictive attractions. At the time of our visit, only 11 attractions are ready (among 58 planned points of interest).

The park map - taken from www.jungleland.co.id

Parade of - ehm...flower fairy perhaps?

Afternoon live show

Some view isn't it?

The available attractions are:
1. Rumah Jelangkung (ghost house) where we ride a train thru dark alley with spooky setting. But no worry, even my youngest girl enjoyed the ride :-) I would not further explain about this one, I tried not to spoil your future ride there 【ツ】ƗƗє²² ƗƗє²² ƗƗє²²【ツ】

2. Mobil Jeger Jeger, well known as bumper cars. You have to be 135cm or above to ride this (and they are very strict with it - thumb up for keeping the rule)

3. Kebut-kebutan where you can drive your own car and race thru the designated 700m tracks (the longest in Indonesia). A min height of 135cm is required to drive on your own

4. Muter2. An amusement park isn't complete without a carrousel in it and Jungle Land has it with its animals on it. Too bad, the seat designated for adult is limited on this ride (only 4 to choose) and I suffered thru my ride in a spinning snake arrggghhhh...

5. Disk'o is a wide circular ride moving in circle while going up and down (with 45degree tilt) on the designated track (just like dancing in the disco club - with a complete hangover-feeling-alike too after the ride is done). Again, min height of 135cm is required for this.

6. Petir (lighting) is pretty much well-known for those who prefer adrenalin rides. This extreme swinger will fly you up to 20m above the ground in a mere seconds before it swing you back to another opposite direction. It requires a min 135cm in height.

7. Sepur Leutik, a mini train with fancy colourful clown paint on it will be suitable to entertain your toddler

8. 3 point basket where you could exercise and practice your shot or dunk

9. Hihibeuran. Well, I am not fluent in local (traditional language) so I didn't know what is hihibeuran. But this extreme ride terrified me a lot (I still could conjure up the scream and yell from the brave riders). The aeroplane-look-alike-ride moves fast in one big circle in which an individual plane moves up and down, right and left, keep turning around. I imagined feeling trapped inside the ball and being kicked here and there (geez...even explaining the ride gave me ‎​a headache =.=! pheω...‎​⊙﹏⊙)

10. Ceblak ceblok. Another unknown local term for me but this ride is available even at mall's amusement park in Jakarta. Some might know it as a jumping frog (with a frog figure on it) and the seat can jump up to 7m before lurching down. My girls said, the going down movement tickled her tummy (´▽｀)ノ♪ Нªª は は は Нªª

11. The last attraction is called Mini Pontang Panting (swinger)

After satisfying your adrenalin with those rides, you could replenish your spirit at the Jungle Resto (the one resto available at the time we visited there) with limited menus as well. The meals sold were ready (sorta fast food) and was quite edible (so it wasn't something that is prepared upon your order) but I hope in the future, more resto and menu will be offered. While the dining room was furnished with the basic needs only (not even AC was available to cool down our body ◦(˘o ˘") ｼﾞﾛ! Hüђђђ o(︶︿︶)o ). Totally uncomfortable and I could see they tried to fit everything ready for the soft opening. Again, I hope they could provide some cozy sofa with AC where the tired visitors can slump down and enjoy the meals or simply resting over a steaming tasty coffee. Toilet were ready but again, they only opened few cubicles (mostly 2 toilet cubicles among tens of them). The sinks were too high and wide, so for parents, please accompany your child otherwise the children can't reach it (yeah, we had a talk with the toilet attendance who said that it was difficult for her to clean the sinks due to the height and size). Well, since this amusement park welcomes children, it will be nice if the management provide child-friendly facilities inside the park. Other onsite facilities available are locker on rent with IDR 10k per coin and umbrella rental :-)

The resto

Menus ... phewww

A glimpse of inside the resto

Anyway, though it was a bit early to say this, I believe Jungle Land has a promising outlook in a year (I'm thinking whether this will be on par with USS upon completion - can't hardly wait for our next year visit 【ツ】ƗƗє²² ƗƗє²² ƗƗє²²【ツ】 ). There are lots of room for improvement but we did enjoy our day there (which there was no queue at all and we were able to re-ride our fav rides). Claimed to be the biggest in Indonesia (upon completion), Jungle Land with its tagline of adventure theme park offers a fresh enjoyment for adventure seekers. Well...ready for your ride?

Posed before going home

The yummy mommies tagging along with the kids   :-)

Boating @Ah Poong

PS. Complete park map is available for download at the respective website

Melrimba Garden - Puncak

The main facade

Indoor seating

Open kitchen

It is exam weeks (the school normally has 1week of practical subjects and 2weeks of theoritical subjects) and me and the girls are having hard days. So it's sort of our routine to have a short break during the weekend where my girls can study in leisure. This time, we chose Puncak as our destination and my hubby had a perfect destination for this time 'study picnic' - at Melrimba Garden (Puncak Pas - before Rindu Alam Restaurant - on your left if you are going up).

Indoor 2nd floor seating

Front porch seating on 2nd floor

Human sized ladder and snake board game

The traffic was light from Jkt (we left at 9am) however near the Ciawi highway exit, the cars were lined up - bumper to bumper. We arrived at 11.30am (‎​=.=! pheω...‎​⊙﹏⊙ ) and almost missed the place but luckily we could turn from the exit roadway. The parking lot was limited but I like the openness. You can see the foggy lazuli sky everywhere...with tea plantation patches here and there in between the dense trees. The air was perfect, mountain fresh and cool breeze but wasn't freeze your lung and limbs :-). Beside the wheather was quite perfect too...a bit cloudy with occasional light shower which didn't deter us to play outdoor.

Lesehan seating

Human sized chess

Mini outbound area

Camping ground

There are so many pics but i gotta choose the best of it for this post   :-)

Right in the middle of the parking lot, there is small pond which at the time we went there...was empty (probably they were doing some maintenance on it). Across on the right side (from the entrance roadway) is the playground area while the main building is on our left side. The building was only 2storeys high with open facade as well (the upper floor was a bit country style). Yucca and palm trees soften the rigid minimalist outer outlook. They put 'lesehan' area in front where you can sit on the floor while dining (or power napping after your meal 【ツ】ƗƗє²² ƗƗє²² ƗƗє²²【ツ】). They provide thin cushion for your comfort here. Each lesehan area was separated with low wall (about 40cm)...so our view to the surrounding (including the inside of the building) isn't obstructed. While on the inside, wooden planks are mainly used either for flooring, pilar, partition or dining table.

Trees' stumps games

In front of the garden

Pretty sight isnt it?

Playground inside the garden

Fishing pond inside the garden

Apparently openness is one of the key concept here beside natural garden, since they have open kitchen at far right of the building and open bar at another left of the building. I like the way they decorate the kitchen with rows of herbs potted plants...effortless beauty :-) To cater the needs of baby and toddler, they have indoor playground right in front of the bar. On the 1st floor, plush marron sofas dominate the seating arrangement. On the side, there are wooden seating furniture with shredded cloth partition. Totally comfy with one drawback, the light is too dimmed. The second floor was constructed on the same concept with high wooden ceiling and large squarish holes serve as the windows. Indoor hanging plants decorate the upper ceiling patio. I noticed Petunia, Geranium and Begonia among others that I didn't know.

Thai pineapple fried rice with cute shape

Pasta

Iga iga lasem

But Melrimba isn't only about the building and the cozyness of it. The food was superb too. We ordered Thai pineapple fried rice, Iga iga lasem, and Spaghetti to share for my girls. The Iga iga lasem was fantastic (an eye opener that can wipe out your tiredness after a long drive). It was basically ribs soup with green tomatoes and herbs (more or less like Tom yum soup but this one was fresher in term of the taste). Beside the main course, we also had Fried tofu (with pan smeared garlic and chilli sauce) which was absolutely yummy. While for dessert, we chose fried banana with caramel sauce and cute round poffertjes with caster sugar topping. All of them only costed us around IDR250k including beverages too...pretty cheap wasn't it?
After eating and study, it was time to explore the whole area of Melrimba Garden. They are building a hotel right now and currently offer a camping ground (tents and its equippment are provided). They also have mini outbound area, 3on3 basketball field, nursery with lots of baby plant to choose from minimum IDR10k. They provide tea plantation walk, bike rental, ATV, fishing and trampolin too. All required extra charges from the lowest of IDR 5k (they sometime differentiate the charge for adult and child). Inside the garden (IDR 7.5k per adult or IDR5k per child), there are mini playground too. I simply Ŀ♡√Ɛ the garden, Azlea, Chrissan, Bell flower, Gardenia, and many more. Absolutely breathtaking natural beauty...I could spend hours inside the garden 【ツ】ƗƗє²² ƗƗє²² ƗƗє²²【ツ】

Fried banana with caramel sauce

Poffertjes

Various flowers inside the garden

In short...Melrimba Garden is a perfect place for short family city escape
*thinking where we are going to have our another study picnic (^.^)